(Newser)
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Nancy Pelosi has made one of her strangest alliances yet with ousted Iraq commander Ricardo Sanchez, and their bring-the-troops-home alliance thrills Democratic leaders but baffles others, the Washington Post reports. Sanchez, forced to retire over the Abu Ghraib scandal, delivered last weekend’s Democratic radio address and blasted President Bush’s "failure to devise a strategy for victory in Iraq."

One professor and former officer called Sanchez “a largely discredited figure” and said he blames the ex-commander for “kick-down-the-door” tactics that worsened the US position in Iraq. A GOP senator warned that Sanchez "has opened himself up to what happened on his watch” and will likely take more flak from critics.